Fred MacAulay was born in Sollas, North Uist, in 1925. Educated at Inverness Academy and Edinburgh University, he went on to become Senior Gaelic Producer of BBC Scotland in 1964, and Manager of BBC Highland in 1979. An active campaigner for the continuation of the Gaelic language, he was one of the most distinguished Gaels of his generation and made a lasting contribution to Gaelic culture. He died in Inverness in 2003, aged 78. In this audio extract, originally recorded for 'Moray Firth People' in 1983, Fred talks to Sam Marshall about his work at the BBC.

There were other idiosyncrasies that the BBC suffered from. All services, religious services, had to be done live. I don't know whether the idea was that God wasn't up to our technical advances or what, but that was the case for quite a long time. And it was quite funny at times because, for example, if a priest or a minister were coming from the islands - and this tended to happen in the summer rather than the winter - you'd get these beautiful fogs, you see, which stopped planes from flying. And he'd be due to you on, let's say, Tuesday, I think was the day, and then at the last minute you'd hear he wasn't coming and I still remember the day it dawned on me that he might not be there. What should I do next? And I went to my boss and said, 'What does one do in this situation?' And he said, 'You just read the sermon yourself.' So I said, 'Well, we need somebody else instead of me' and so I made very sure that I had a couple of recordings available in case of such an emergency. I never yet got round to preaching a sermon on the BBC.

Interviewer: It must have been a very costly business bringing a clergyman from the Western Isles?

Oh indeed, indeed; you, you flew somebody down, flew somebody back. I think it was probably was on the grounds of cost, in the end, that people began to see reason

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Fred MacAulay at the BBC (3 of 4)

1980s

Outer Hebrides; broadcasting; audio

Moray Firth Radio

MFR: Fred MacAulay

Fred MacAulay was born in Sollas, North Uist, in 1925. Educated at Inverness Academy and Edinburgh University, he went on to become Senior Gaelic Producer of BBC Scotland in 1964, and Manager of BBC Highland in 1979. An active campaigner for the continuation of the Gaelic language, he was one of the most distinguished Gaels of his generation and made a lasting contribution to Gaelic culture. He died in Inverness in 2003, aged 78. In this audio extract, originally recorded for 'Moray Firth People' in 1983, Fred talks to Sam Marshall about his work at the BBC.<br />
<br />
There were other idiosyncrasies that the BBC suffered from. All services, religious services, had to be done live. I don't know whether the idea was that God wasn't up to our technical advances or what, but that was the case for quite a long time. And it was quite funny at times because, for example, if a priest or a minister were coming from the islands - and this tended to happen in the summer rather than the winter - you'd get these beautiful fogs, you see, which stopped planes from flying. And he'd be due to you on, let's say, Tuesday, I think was the day, and then at the last minute you'd hear he wasn't coming and I still remember the day it dawned on me that he might not be there. What should I do next? And I went to my boss and said, 'What does one do in this situation?' And he said, 'You just read the sermon yourself.' So I said, 'Well, we need somebody else instead of me' and so I made very sure that I had a couple of recordings available in case of such an emergency. I never yet got round to preaching a sermon on the BBC.<br />
<br />
Interviewer: It must have been a very costly business bringing a clergyman from the Western Isles?<br />
<br />
Oh indeed, indeed; you, you flew somebody down, flew somebody back. I think it was probably was on the grounds of cost, in the end, that people began to see reason